Businesses in the East Midlands haven’t been claiming their share of government innovation funding — settling for 68% less than some parts of the UK, a study by innovation funding specialist Catax shows.
Businesses across the UK have enjoyed £12.3bn of grant awards from government innovation agency, Innovate UK, since 2003.
However, in that time, companies in the East Midlands have received less grant cash than all but four other regions, when adjusted for business population.
Companies in the East Midlands have netted the equivalent of £2,084 per business, which is 68% less than those in the North East (£6,504), the best performing region. Total grant funding nationally has equalled £2,563 per business — meaning the East Midlands is 18.7% behind the UK average.
Applicants in the East Midlands have been awarded £661 million in total.
Some of the largest grants in the region over the last five years went to Rolls Royce, in Derby, for a number of projects, funded by Innovate UK grants worth a total of £57.4m.
Five highest grant awards in the East Midlands in the past five years
|
Grant recipient |
Location |
Award offered |
Description |
|
Rolls Royce Plc |
Derby |
£16,758,325 |
Fan testing of a gas-turbine engine. Rolls Royce will lead that testing and analysis to ensure the structural integrity of the engine. |
|
Rolls Royce Plc |
Derby |
£14,346,650 |
For LUCIA (Large UltraFan Composite Integrated Aerostructures), a key enabler for the delivery of the UltraFan powerplant. |
|
Rolls Royce Plc |
Derby |
£13,630,743 |
FANDANGO (FAN Design And iNtegrity, GO) will deliver the flight worthy UltraFan fan system for demonstration in the most arduous test conditions met by gas turbines. |
|
Rolls Royce Plc |
Derby |
£12,685,447 |
Environmental proving testing. |
|
Horiba Mira Ltd |
Hinckley and Bosworth |
£11,220,000 |
For the Trusted Intelligent CAV facility, to accelerate development of Connected and Autonomous Vehicles. |
Other regions trailing the national average are North West (£1,039), Northern Ireland (£1,465), Wales (£1,623), the East of England (£1,922) and Yorkshire & the Humber (£2,204).
The national disparity has improved only slightly in the past five years and is still cause for concern. The North East was still the biggest recipient (£2,586 per business) between 2017 and 2022, while the North West continued to benefit the least (£473 per business).
Over that period, the East Midlands has received £884 per business, while the North East remains ahead with £2,586. It means the gap has marginally narrowed, with the East Midlands receiving 65.8% less per company compared to the top-performing region. Grant funding nationally equalled £1,093 per business over the past five years.
The results of the study serve as a wake-up call to businesses across the UK to ensure they are taking advantage of funding opportunities on offer, as a lack of awareness continues to hold back applications.
Karen Taylor, group head of grants at innovation funding specialist Catax, says: “There is great variation in the level of innovation funding being claimed around the UK and the East Midlands is lagging behind.
“Grants can be a game-changing source of finance for businesses, giving many the resources they need to invest in new research and innovations.
“It might be that there is still a prevailing lack of awareness of these grants in the region, and this needs to be addressed. These findings should serve as a call to action for businesses in the East Midlands to take a look at what grants are on offer which could help them get their project off the ground.”
